WHEN THE USA BECAME AN ARCTIC COUNTRY: THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

This article is devoted to the reactions of American press on the purchasing of Alaska. The USA was always an expansionist state and because had interest in the acquisition of new territories in the North America especially. When the United States bought Alaska in 1867 from the Russian Empire and became a neighboring state of the Arctic, the reactions were manifold both in politics and public. The old name “Russian America” was replaced by new one – “Alaska” with the help of American journalists. Concerns were expressed regarding the political and economic benefit of the new territory and its military vulnerability. Against this background, the article describes the immediate responses of US-American newspapers to the Alaska purchase. In particular, the American press voiced hope, that the purchase of Alaska would become a prologue for the capture of nearby British territories in Canada and, on the other hand, underlined amities between Washington and Petersburg.